Filling the Freezer This Week

I very rarely do this but it's so fun when I do get around to it: Making chutneys, breads, pickles, tarts, etc. ahead of time, to fill a freezer/refrigerator/pantry -- though truth be told I've never actually made "real" preserved food like could go into a pantry. My grandmother used to fill her cellar with canned fruits and vegetables from their acres of fruit trees and their many fields. This looks just like their cellar! minus the maid-type person!

...Her only cookbooks for such foods were, for jams and jellies the pamphlet found in pectin packages, which she never kept but would just get again the next year, which I guess makes sense because perhaps the company would've adjusted their product a little year to year and you would want to use their newest recipe...and a booklet from the company that made her jars.
I've not been able to find the jar one she used, but these are similar. This looks most like hers; it's from 1948, which makes sense, given that was about when she and Grandpa settled on their farm, after the war.

Lastly, here's the cover of a 1930s? 1950s? French magazine? on canning; ah those ladies are so chic even when they're canning, their children are underfoot, their friend is jabbering, and they're carrying a ton -- note the wonderful jam jars like you can get when you buy Bonne Maman's preserves today:

......Back to 2014. This week I've gotten a nice start on making these for people arriving after an overseas trip, both as a welcome and to make for easy suppers!
...an olive-rosemary bread
...an amazing tapanade-tomato tart I'll post about soon
...mini frittattas made in custard cups
...homemade granola or muesli (someday I'll post favorite recipes for that)
...beans-butternut squash-bacon dish (making tonight)
...ploughman's chutney (yet to try)
...cucumber-citrus pickles

Welcome!

c1939

You'll find retro and older ideas on this site...

I love food and history and am trying to combine these loves here and in a probably-quite-future book. My most recently finished book will launch soon, I hope, and speaks much of cuisine in South Asia from earliest times to 700 CE....

Speaking of old, this is a reincarnation of two old blogs, one shared with friends all over the world and called something like Our Favorite Food This Week, and then one called That Was Delicious that started my toying with retro food ideas....I have kept some of the most pertinent posts from those blogs. Weeelll, plus some recipes I wanted to share, which are not super pertinent!